The Dillon tribune., 1887-05-20
1ue DELIGHTS or sMITHVILLE.

.>,...r. ut tho Bottom Of the Bay-Hav-
,n~ Fun with Big Sea Turtle.
sm,thvillc is thirty miles from VIII
mincton, N. c., at the mouth Of tho Cape
Eear liver In the bay in front Of Smith
v;IIe is Coon island, which is inhabited by
an infinite number Of raccoons. Nobody
tates the trouble to hunt them, because
nobody cares to cat them. Not even the
.lsrkies down there know how good roast
,coon is. Almost all the bottom of tho
oreat bay is covered with enormous natu-
ri beds Of the largest, fattcst and most
deliciously favored oysters imaginable.
successive generations of oysters through
aoes past have piled their shells upon
Hose of their predecessors until they have
mofle solid masses of shells, like rock or
coral reefs, as much as twenty-five feet in
depth. In many places they have builded
nntil now they are out Of water ut low
tide. and the boys Of Smithville find it
handy and amusing to build fires ON them
when the tide is out and roasting them in
their beds, flirting each oyster out Of his
shell az he is cooked and swallowing him.
The tide rises and falls about five feet.
Monster green turtles, some weighing
as much as 1900 pounds each, frequent
the beach all the way down to Fort Cas-
well, four miles below the town. People
eat their eggs, but do not eat tho turtles.
Beach parties Of young folks go down
On the hard sand in the moonlight, roast
oysters and have fun with tho turtles.
When female turtle wishes to lay her
eggs she crawls up the sandy beach to q
place that suits her fancy, digs with her
- to ho1o &~> 4 =. A..
the hole 200 or 800 eggs. The eggs are
not dumped in q pile, but laid out smoothly
and neatly in rows. When she COM
mences laying it makes no odds to her how
big . beach party stands around superin-
tending the process. She attends strictly
to business, and II the eggs are taken from
The hole az fast as she lays them it does
not at all discourage or frighten her.
When she gets through she scrapcs the
sand back into the hole whether the eggs
ae there or not and then starts back for
the water. That Is the time for the beach
party to have fun with her. As many of
them as can mount her big, dome like
back do 80, and she carries them right
down to the water's edge, where they
jump off and she goes on. She does not
seem to mind their weight VI show any
disposition to resent their good natured
familiarity. Sometimes they turn her
over on her back, but after she has help
lessly paved the air a little while they
right her again and she waddles Off. OF
course, there must be something wrong
mentally in y people who can tumble
around green turtles in that way without
ever thinking OF eating them.
And they don't cat soft clans either,
though the beach sand is packed full ct
those excellent bivalves. Indeed, the
very idea Of eating them seems to
awaken feelings Of disgust aud loathing
among the tlarkies. Nor do they cat the
'nusscls, which are abundant. Hard
clans, OF which there u few millions in
pretty much every place where anybody
might look for them in the hay. they do
cot, but not with any particular enthusi-
asm, though their hard CLANS are really
very f1ne.-New York Times.